Worlds Away From You
by LoveOnDeathsWings
Summary: As the nightmares weren't enough, Kyra Monroe's life is permanantly altered when she is suddenly sent into the odd world she has been haunted by in her sleep. And to make things worse, she has somehow gotten herself tied in with the villans...


The cool autumn air blew through my hair, with a slight chill to remind me that summer was coming to a close and the colder seasons were drawing nearer. My attention was fixed on the open sky above me, a black canvas painted with millions of gleaming stars. There was a gap in the beauty, a gap where the moon should have been—a new moon.

The stars had always given me something to think about when I needed to keep my thoughts away from a certain area. They made me wonder about life beyond us, about the impossible. If there was a whole smaller world among us, with bacteria and ameba and other microscopic beings, was there a whole larger world around us? Were we the size of little amebas to them?

Red hair... I shook off that thought that had somehow crept into the vicinity of my active mind. I would _not_ think about that dream until I absolutely _had_ to—which was soon, since the minutes were creeping by and I would eventually have to sleep.

I let my mind wander farther into my wonders of space for my remaining minutes of freedom, before my door creaked open and my dad insisted that I had stayed up late enough.

I stood, closing my window, and shrugged out of my shirt. I made sure it took me a few minutes to get ready for bed—anything to extend the amount of time between that dream and me. I had yet to discover _why_ it bothered me like it did—I guessed it was just the people. I shuddered as each image raced through my mind. I pulled my blanket tighter around me, allowing my mind to wander into the darker points until I was slipping off into unconsciousness.

**- - -**

The familiar setting settled around me, the forest, filled with odd people. My appearance was different—I was dressed as oddly as those around me. But I never had time to dwell on my strange red hair or odd clothing, because a tongue would always lash out at me.

Instinctively, with powers I never knew I had, I jumped back and let the long tongue follow me. I couldn't afford to look at the owner of the tongue, because if I let my guard down even for one second, the slimy pink thing would wrap itself around me and I would be drug back to the horrific man at the other end.

I jumped from tree branch to tree branch, weaving around in a curved path to avoid the tongue chasing me—and the man. I could _not_ afford to lose this…fight, it seemed. I couldn't afford to get myself caught, because then all of the people surrounding me, fighting with me here in this green hell, would have even slimmer chances of winning. If I failed, they _died_. These strangers…I didn't know their names or anything about them, but at the same time I knew _everything_ about them. I loved them, and would _not_ let them be hurt because I failed on this suicide mission.

"You're mine again, Kyra-hime!" The words were a hiss in my ear, an indicator that I had to move faster. I didn't dare turn to look at the macabre man pursuing me, but I did not fail to spit out an acid response.

"You had your turn, Orochimaru-sama!" I never knew where my responses came from, but it felt fitting to do as my conscience told me to. "You have to learn to share!"

His hiss was menacing, and I knew I'd only made him far angrier. A scowl crossed my face as that familiar aura came closer and closer—an aura that I could recognize anywhere. After weeks of this non-stop dream, I new what would happen.

Another obstacle—one that I could wave aside easily and knew I would have to pay for later.

"Enough with the licking thank you, Oro-nii-san!" I called over my shoulder as his long tongue caught my ankle momentarily, and then writhed back when I drove my heel into it and began to quickly run again. If anything would make him mad, it was calling him 'big brother' and stepping on his tongue. Eew.

He was at my side then, and it took everything in my power not to scream as his golden eyes locked me in their depths.

"You can't escape!" his words were a laugh, mocking me as if I were so inferior to him. "You'll become one of us again, whether you _want_ to or _not_!"

I scowled at him as we ran, no longer fighting, merely racing involuntarily. "I left Otogakure for a _reason_." My scowl deepened as a blur of black and red became visable in the distance. He wasn't _moving_... "ITACHI, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I screamed, brushing past him in an excess of rage and adrenaline.

I jumped up, avoiding the tongue that shot out of his mouth and snaked after me.

Turning to face him, we both stopped running and stared. I was the first to move, lunging at him with a smirk on my face. I was about to outwit the Snake Sannin, my sensei. It was like outwitting the devil himself, only better. My fist flew past his face, intentionally missing his cheek.

"Your aim lacks exceptionally, Kyra-hime!"

"No it doesn't! I _got_ my target!" I laughed in his face as my hand, past his face, fixed on the rope that tied around his waist. I launched myself over his shoulder, twisting around again so that I was facing his back. My foot hit in between his shoulders, knocking him forward.

Not daring to look back, and frankly not sure who I was more afraid of right now—Itachi or Orochimaru—I pressed on, doing everything in my power to lead us back to where the others remained their own battles. I was desperate to know how things were back with the others.

But my fear didn't stop the rage and confusion. This was different. Something in the dream was going to change—I knew it. But always the dream ended in a few minutes. Itachi would catch up, start demanding explanations as to why in the hell I was fighting the Snake Sannin, and then the red light would engulf me and I would wake up suppressing the urge to scream in pain, because I hadn't seen _him_ before I returned to consciousness.

But Itachi never came, and Orochimaru was no longer following. I veered my direction, turning back and running at full speed. It took a few minutes, but I finally returned to the scene and ran straight to his side, delighted so far with the change.

"Where is Orochimaru?" I looked around, ready to move again if he showed himself.

"He was following you…" His sand swallowed the Sound Nin he was fighting, tearing him to shreds inside the golden mass.

"If he didn't come back—"

A laugh rang in my ears as something wet began to drip down my back. Blood. Pain rocketed through me as I fell, and his voice screamed for me then.

"KYRA!" But it wasn't just him. All of them... This had never happened before... I'd never _died_. But I got to see him one last time... It wasn't so bad. No, I saw him one last time before I moved on, and for that much I was thankful.

_'Wake up, wake up, wake up!'_ a voice shouted in my head, a low snarl against the black that surrounded me. I threw open my eyes, and the scream finally came.

**- - -**

"Kyra! Kyra, wake up!" I was being shaken, but I didn't care. I could see nothing through my open eyes, just black as the pain began to vanish and my screams died down to whimpers. I couldn't stand it much longer, the confusion of it. What was _wrong_ with me? Who were these people I dreamt about? I didn't know who they were, but in my dreams I could call them by name, but when I woke up it was all a blur. And I couldn't stand it.

"Kyra, are you okay? What's wrong? What happened?"

I shook my head as my vision became more focused and I was staring at my father. "I'm fine, dad. Just a bad dream..." There had been a reason I had never let the screams loose before. My dad would make fun of me for being a fifteen-year-old who woke up screaming from a nightmare.

He stared at me warily, as if he didn't trust me, but shook it off. "You look horrible though, Hales." He pressed his hand to me forehead, and then tore it away. "Go back to sleep. You are _not_ going to school."

I stared at him in disbelief—not because he had proclaimed that I was not going to school, but because he wanted me to go back to _sleep_. What if the dream came back?

"Dad…" I said in a whisper, staring at him.

"No. I'll be right here, Kyra. Just go _back to sleep_."

I sighed as the shaking started again. It was pointless to argue with him now—he had no idea how these dreams affected me. But I still set my head delicately down on the pillow and warily forced my eyes shut. I lay there for hours, keeping my mind blank of _everything_. If I thought about this new dream, it would be sure to bring back the screaming and the pain. But eventually I lulled myself back to sleep, and the horror started all over again.


End file.
